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General Inspirations• Indian Epics: Mahabharata, Ramayana• Sanskrit Drama• Folk Theatre of India• Parsi Theatre
• Hollywood• Western Music TV shows (MTV)• Indian Diaspora
Bollywood - Love your First Impressions• Bollywood is predominantly
escapist and full of entertainment, no matter how artistic it is.
• Full of music, dancing, colors- part of Indian culture
• Romance will always be a key factor-whether focus or a subplot
• Family is a key role in lives, friendship is filled with crazy times, and marriage always occurs in ultimate romance
• Bonus points for always having a rain scene (mostly past films)
The Beginning: Tollywood• Believe it or not, Bengalis were the
first ones to be exposed to cinema• Tollywood: Blending of “Tollygunge”
and “Hollywood”• First began in 1890’s, with the
introduction of “bioscopes” by the British.
• First Bengali movie, “Billwamangal” produced in 1919
• First talkie, Jamai Shashthi, produced in 1931, the same year as “Alam Ara”, first Hindi talkie.
The Eras Of Tollywood• The Silent Era: 1919-1930
– India still under British rule at this point
– Hiralal Sen: Bengali director– Heroes: Pramathesh Barua
& Debaki Bose• Rising of the Talkies
– 1932 film “Chandidas” breakthrough for recording sound for Bengali film
– More artistically inclined than rising Hindi movies
Tollywood Eras: Cont.
• The Golden Age: 1952-1972– Rise of Directors: Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Bimal
Roy, and Ritwik Ghatak– Rise of Actors: Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen,
Soumitra Chatterjee– Rise of Playback Singers :Hemanta Mukherjee,
Manna Dey, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, and Kishore Kumar
– Rise of ‘Parallel Cinema’ movement
Notable Films• The Apu Trilogy (1955-1959)
– Pather Panchali– Aparajito– Apur Sansar
• The Calcutta Trilogies:– Pratidwandi (1971)– Seemabaddha (1971)– Jana Aranya (1976)
• Nayak (1966)• Mrigaya (1976)• Sonar Kella (1974)• Paroma (1984)• Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002)
Bollywood
• Largest producer of movies in the world• Large part of mass Indian culture, whether for
escapism or social commentary• Masala movies-mix of all different genres in
one movie • In their history, has swung between family-
friendly romance and social commentary
Going to Bollywood
• Developed around the same time as Tollywood
• Made up of “Bombay” and “Hollywood”, which was based off of Tollywood
• Raja Harishchandra (1913) was first silent feature film
• Alam Ara (1931) is first Hindi talkie film made• Color became popular in Bollywood in late
1950’s
Before Independence
• Lots of silent movies about Indian epics• Based on Parsi plays and Indian stories• By 1930’s, India was producing 200 films per
year
Key Movies/Actors
• Raja Harishchandra (1913)
• Alam Ara (1931)• Kisan Kanya (1937)
• Notable Actors:– Prithviraj Kapoor– Ashok Kumar
The BW to Color Age – some say the Golden Age
• From the 1950’s until about 1970• Story-centric, focusing on realism• Social commentary and global recognition• Epic films become a genre• Social themes with urban working-class
and/or rural India
Notable Films• Awaara (1951)• Devdas (1955)• Shree420 (1955)• Mother India (1957)• Pyaasa (1957)• Mughal-e-Azam (1960)• Madhumati (1958)• Guide (1965)• Aradhana (1969)• Sangam (1964)• Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai (1960)
Notable Actors• Raj Kapoor• Rajesh Khanna• Sharmila Tagore• Guru Dutt• Nutan• Dilip Kumar• Vaijayantimala• Dev Anand• Nargis• Sunil Dutt• Shammi Kapoor• Mumtaz• Madhubala• Rajendra Kumar
Notable Singers/ Songs• Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi
reigned supreme• Rise of :
– Kishore Kumar– Asha Bhosle
• “Mere Sapna Ki Rani”• “Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe”• “Mere Saamne Wale Khirki Main”• “Tere Mere Sapne”• “Chori Chori”• “Mera Joota Hai Japani”• “Yeh Duniya Yeh Mehephil”
From Romance to Masala (1970s-early 1980s) - “dishum dishum”
• Represented the struggles of lower class• Represented corruption in society• Hoped for the “knight in shining armor” to solve the miseries• Male actor dominated movies – very few meaningful roles for
women actors• Rajesh Khanna started the 1970s as the romantic hero and • Amitabh Bachchan - the angry young man - reigns supreme• Some art movies break-through
Actors• Amitabh Bachchan• Rekha• Sanjeev Kumar• Amjad Khan• Zeenat Aman• Rishi Kapoor• Shashi Kapoor• Jeetendra• Mithun Chakraborty• Sridevi• Naseerudin Shah• Hema Malini• Shabana Azmi
The Low Years
• Late eighties to early nineties• Affected by the rise of VCRs and piracy• Return to family-friendly films, but little effort
made towards quality• Some good films rise out introduce actors of
tomorrow• Searching for the right mix between action,
romance, social, violence
Movies
• Baazigar • Daar• Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak • Maine Pyaar Kiya• Tezaab• Parinda• Mr. India• Khal Nayak
Key Actors• Shahrukh Khan• Kajol• Madhuri Dixit• Karishma Kapoor• Tabu• Anil Kapoor• Amir Khan• Salman Khan• Sanjay Dutt
The Phoenix Rises Again
• From 1995 to current era• Triggered by the release of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
(1995)• Rise of independent films and artistically inclined• Rise of genre Mumbai noir• More focus on youth, with college students becoming
increased subjects• Newer generation of actors and actresses coming into
prominence• Even commercial cinema becoming more artistically inclined
Key Movies
• Dilwale Duhania Le Jayenge (1995)• Satya (1998)• Lagaan (2001)• Devdas (2002)• Munnabhai M.B.B.S.(2003) • Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)• Rang De Basanti (2006)
Key Actors-Gen. Next
• Hithrik Roshan• Shahid Kapoor• Abhishek Bachchan• Ranbir Kapoor• Aishwarya Rai • Rani Mukherji • Kareena Kapoor• Konkona Sen Sharma
Key Songs• “Chaiyya Chaiyya”• “Dhoom Machale”• “Chand Sifarish” • “Tadap Tadap Ke”• “Ek Pal Ka Jeena”• “Ghanan Ghanan”• “Dola Re”• “Kajra Re”• “Rang De Basanti”
Key Composers and Singers• Composers
– A.R. Rahman– Jatin-Lalit– Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
• Playback Singers– Udit Narayan– Kavita Krishnamurthy– Alka Yagnik– Shreya Ghoshal– Sunidhi Chauhan– Sonu Niigam– Shaan
What about the rest of India?
• All regions make movies – and they make a lot of them
• Telegu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam films have created many award winning and masala movies
• Other regions also make many movies, every year
• My focus today was on Tollywood and Bollywood – which I am most familiar with